Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie made overtures to the LGBT community in response to a controversial campaign ad from Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL).
The DeSantis War Room Twitter account released a campaign ad on Friday which attacked former President Donald Trump as too friendly toward the LGBT community, contrasting it with news clips of DeSantis being criticized for his policies regarding them.
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The ad came under fire from multiple people, including within the Republican Party. Christie joined the chorus of discontent in an interview on CNN’s State of the Union, expressing his displeasure with the video and arguing that DeSantis and Trump are dividing the country.
To wrap up “Pride Month,” let’s hear from the politician who did more than any other Republican to celebrate it…
— DeSantis War Room 🐊 (@DeSantisWarRoom) June 30, 2023
“I’m not comfortable with [the video], and I’m not comfortable with the way both Gov. DeSantis and Donald Trump are moving our debate in this country,” Christie said. “They’re trying to divide us further. And it’s wrong. It’s absolutely wrong.”
Christie argued that the country should be more focused on issues such as inflation and that Trump and DeSantis’ feud was juvenile.
“It is a teenage, you know, food fight, between Ron DeSantis and Donald Trump … and it certainly doesn’t make me feel inspired, as an American, on the Fourth of July weekend to have this type of back and forth going on,” he continued.
Christie has positioned himself as the centrist alternative to Trump but is also no stranger to going after DeSantis.
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Another centrist Republican 2024 candidate, former Texas Rep. Will Hurd, joined Christie in denouncing the campaign ad, saying he wishes they would focus their attacks elsewhere.
“I wish they would focus their attacks on war criminals like Vladimir Putin, not my friends in the LGBTQ community,” Hurd said. “It is 2023. We should be talking about ‘how do we embrace our differences?’”
